Debre Sina (monastery)
Debra Sina is a monastery in the highlands of Eritrea near Keren in the Anseba Region. It was the site of the first Holy Communion prepared in the Eritrean Orthodox Church, by the 4th-century bishop Aba Salama. It is one of the oldest monasteries in Africa and the world.
The monastery is the site of a pilgrimage by Eritrean Orthodox believers each year in June. The pilgrimage centers on a church above the village where a vision of Mary was said to have been seen by shepherd girls beneath a large boulder. The church is built adjacent to and over the rock where the vision was seen. The pilgrimage includes thousands of ordinary Eritrean believers camping for one night in the village of Debra Sina, singing, drumming, chanting and celebrating Mary.
